ITC reaffirms commitment to invest Rs.3,000 crore in Bengal

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Last Updated: Tue, Dec 11, 2012 16:00 hrs

Kolkata, Dec 11 (IANS) Cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate ITC Ltd. chairman Y.C. Deveshwar called on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday and "reaffirmed" the group's commitment to invest Rs.3,000 crore in the state in the next three to five years, a company official said.

In the half-hour meeting at the state secretariat, Banerjee "assured" Deveshwar that she would "look into the matter" of ITC Infotech's Bengal project, which has been put on hold for several years due to land fiasco.

"It was a courtesy meet with the chief minister. We took the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to invest Rs.3,000 crore in the state in the next couple of years," an ITC spokesperson told IANS.

"The investments will be in consumer goods manufacturing, hotels, expansion of existing projects and IT," he said.

According to him, the issue of ITC Infotech was also discussed, among other things, in the meeting.

"They discussed various matters, including the subject," the company official said to queries whether the issue of ITC Infotech's Kolkata campus was discussed in the meeting.

"The chief minister assured us that she would look into the matter," he added.

ITC Infotech, a fully owned IT subsidiary of the diversified conglomerate, has been waiting for several years to set up its first campus in the state due to a land fiasco.

According to informed sources, the firm is still awaiting a green signal from the Banerjee government to clear the proposal to allot 15 acres of land in the satellite township of Rajarhat, on the north-eastern fringes of the city.

The company had approached the then Left Front government in 2005 to get around 15 acres for setting up its facilities. The state government had even earmarked 5 acres in Rajarhat.

However, days after the allotment, the then government had backtracked and cancelled its decision to hand over the plot.